


Chestnuts on an Open Fire

by stuphanie



Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: Christmas, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 07:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2613113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuphanie/pseuds/stuphanie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Clear and Noiz's first Christmas together. Clear is as excitable as ever, but there's something tugging at the back of Noiz's mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chestnuts on an Open Fire

 

 

It only takes the first few snowflakes to fall for Clear to become shamelessly excited about Christmas.

“Noiz-san!” he gasps, leaping out of bed and running to the window. “Look outside!”

Grumbling, Noiz pulls the duvet over his head. “It’s eight o’clock in the morning. Go back to sleep.”

“But I’ve never seen snow before.” Clear watches the flakes settle on the balcony before dissipating. His fingers are pressed to the window and his breath steams up on the glass as he watches, completely mesmerised. Suddenly he pulls away and kneels on the bed, jostling Noiz in the process. The blond pulls the covers more firmly over himself. “Noiz-san, can we go outside? We can build one of those things that children make –”

“A snowman,” Noiz mumbles.

“Yes!” Clear exclaims, bouncing atop the mattress.

“I doubt it’ll snow that hard today.”

“Oh.” Obviously disappointed, Clear hangs his head, before gasping again. “But when it does –”

“Then yes, we’ll make a snowman,” Noiz sighs in defeat. He surfaces from underneath the duvet and snakes an arm around the android’s waist, pulling him down. “Now be quiet.”

Blissfully happy, Clear pulls the covers over them both, their legs tangling together, and rests easy when Noiz’s breathing becomes heavy once again. 

* * *

 

There are a lot of things that Noiz dislikes, but Christmas isn’t one of them. At first he rolled his eyes at Clear’s suggestion to bake cookies together and had shrugged him off when Clear tried to make Noiz wear mittens to wear outside.

“Even if you can’t feel the cold, Noiz-san,” Clear said, slipping a pair of green mittens onto Noiz’s hands when he wasn’t looking, “you can still get ill, and that would make me sad.”

“Don’t be a dork,” Noiz muttered, but he’d worn them ever since.

The only fond memories Noiz has of his family back home in Germany is that it was the only time he was permitted to leave his room. He would be allowed to eat lebkuchen around the fire with his brother and open the few presents given to him on Christmas Eve, then attend a church service before eating a meal of fish, after which he would led to his room again. Often there would be strained silences, but mostly, Noiz enjoyed the rare moments he was able to spend with his brother. He looked forward to Christmas Day the most; to anyone else they looked like a normal family wearing paper hats and eating roast goose. Noiz will never admit it but they were the few times he did not truly despise his family. In a way, he is glad that his childish innocence didn’t stop him from maintaining a realistic outlook on life. Christmas after he left home had been lonely and like any other day, yet now, when he glances across to Clear writing out festive cards on the coffee table, he realises that this is all the family that he needs.

“Noiz-san,” Clear says suddenly, looking up from the card he’d been writing in, “where are you going?”

Noiz pulls the laces tight on his shoes. “Out.”

“I’ll come with you!” Clear says, scrambling up from the floor and practically launching himself across the room.

“No,” Noiz says firmly. He catches the hurt look on his lover’s face. “I won't be long.”

As if to wordlessly seal his promise, Noiz lifts Clear’s chin with a gloved hand and plants a firm kiss on the android’s mouth before closing the front door behind him. Clear dithers on the spot only for a second, of two minds whether he should stay or follow the blond, finally compromising by flopping on the sofa as his mind whirs with innumerable possibilities, and not all of them are good. 

* * *

 

Noiz stamps his feet against the frozen ground in annoyance. He leans against a wall, a paper coffee cup – decaf, because the hour is late – held between his gloved hands as he watches late-night shoppers pass by. He drinks the bitter liquid as if it will serve as some kind of brain stimulant or bring him an epiphany. He wants to give Clear the perfect Christmas present, the want almost morphing into a desperate need, yet nothing in the bright commercial shopping precinct seems fitting enough. It all seems too cheap, too tacky, and not reflecting enough of his appreciation for the android. In a way, he strives to find something that says his love for him, because he knows as well as anyone that he’s no good transferring his feelings into words. And that is exactly what a gift would do, he decides, before throwing his empty cup into a bin and strolls into what feels like the hundredth shop that night. 

* * *

 

Clear glances at Noiz’s coil he left on the coffee table. Even if Clear wants to call him he can’t, and remembering how Noiz had left so abruptly and without reason makes Clear worry all the more. He’s finished writing out Christmas cards and has cleaned through all the rooms at least once to keep his mind occupied. Even so, seeing that the time is a little past ten thirty, Clear fidgets. Noiz left hours ago.

In a bid to calm his haywire nerves, Clear makes his way to their shared bedroom down the hall. It’s cosy, with a wrought iron bed frame set against the wall, and has a monochrome scheme. It’s also about the only thing in the apartment Noiz had let Clear decorated, and even then the blond had expected to walk in to jellyfish plushies scattered about the room.

For a little while, Clear glances out onto their balcony, as if waiting for the moment he sees Noiz round the corner and trudge through the flurry of snow. He knows it isn't likely, but his heart leaps at every other person he sees just in case. What if Noiz is lost? Or it’s colder than he initially thinks he is and has spent all this time outside, resulting in illness?

“Noiz-san,” Clear whispers, and for the first time he feels close to tears with worry. He can’t go out looking for him because Noiz said not to, and what if he comes back when Clear is gone and he leaves again? They’d never find each other that way, and if Noiz had thought to take his Coil with him then Clear could easily check up on him and ease his own anxiety.

The android glances at the digital clock on the bedside table. It’s nearing eleven o’clock now. Clear perches on the edge of the bed and kicks his boots off, accidentally kicking a parcel sticking out from under the bed. His stomach lurches. It’s the Christmas gift for Noiz and Clear wonders if he’ll ever get a chance to give it to him now.

Turning over onto his side, he holds Noiz’s pillow close and sends himself into sleep mode, desperately hoping that by the time he’s awake Noiz will be by his side again. 

* * *

 

Noiz stumbles across the dark threshold, cursing as he bangs his knee against the door jamb. It didn’t hurt but he’s more concerned about disturbing Clear. He leaves his shoes by the door and shakes off his jacket, ensuring the mittens are placed safely inside the pockets.

“Clear?” he calls quietly through the darkness. Receiving no reply, he trudges down the hall to their bedroom. He opens the door only a crack when it is nearly flung off its hinges and two strong arms are thrown around his neck. He splutters through the flyaway white hairs, very much taken aback.

“Noiz-san!” Clear gasps, clinging onto the blond as if for dear life. Something wet sticks to Noiz’s cheek and he realises that the android is crying. “I was so worried for you!”

“Hey,” Noiz says gently, holding Clear out at arm’s length. He sees an unhalted tear rolling down his cheek and reaches out to wipe it away. Guilt claws at his insides. Through his intent of a good deed, he had unknowingly been selfish, causing so much unrest in his absence. “I’m sorry I made you worry so much.”

He pulls Clear back against him, tilting his head up ever so slightly to plant a chaste kiss on the taller man’s cheek, running the tip of his tongue across the tear tracks until the other chuckled weakly.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers again, allowing Clear’s head to rest between the junction of his neck and shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re back, Noiz-san.”

They stand there for a while and Clear breathes in deeply, inhaling Noiz’s scent of coffee and outside as the blond presses his cold nose against the android’s neck.

“Did you really miss me that much?”

Clear pulls away and he almost looks offended. “Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

Noiz’s lips quirk up into a small smile, but his eyes remain blank. “I’m only teasing.”

He slides from Clear’s grip and begins to undress, folding up his clothes and placing them in a drawer until he stands in his underwear. He hears footsteps cross the room and a rustling sound.

“Noiz-san?” Clear asks tentatively.

“Hmm?” He turns to see Clear perched on the bed, arms behind his back, seemingly fiddling with something.

“I couldn’t wait, so – so can I please give you your present now?”

Noiz heaves a sigh and leans against the chest of drawers, the frame cold against his back, crossing his arms and taking a deep interest in the patterned wallpaper. “I didn’t get you anything.” His voice is low and humble and carries a trace of embarrassment that Clear overlooks.

“Oh! It’s okay, I –”

“No,” Noiz interrupts with a gentle shake of his head. “It’s not okay. That’s where I was; trying to find you something – something perfect.”  

Clear stills his fiddling and surveys Noiz as if he doesn’t completely understand. “But I already have you, Noiz-san, and that’s what makes this Christmas the best.”

The blond presses his lips together as he feels his throat constrict at the android’s words. Seeing Clear look up at him with those amaranth pink eyes tells him all he needs to know; there is so much earnest, so much innocence, behind his eyes that it loosens the knot of guilt slightly in Noiz’s stomach.

“You’re a dork,” he murmurs gently, crossing the distance between them to card his fingers through Clear’s silken tresses. “What’s my present, then?”

Clear jumps, almost forgetting, and brings out the wrapped package from behind him. “I’ve been practising lots while you’ve been at work, so I made it you myself.”

Somewhat hesitantly, Noiz accepts the present, sitting down next to his lover as he carefully pulls apart the wrapping. It’s something soft and rather lumpy. On closer inspection, Noiz holds it up as the remnants of paper fall away, and a face of a rabbit wearing a Father Christmas hat looks back at him. The motif is knitted into dark green woollen stitch work, its eyes slightly wonky and the sweater probably too big, but it’s obvious how much care and effort is woven into the garment. Noiz feels something lodge itself in his throat and he swallows several times, his voice hoarse when he finally speaks.

“Thank you.”

He looks over to Clear and sees that the android looks visibly relieved, his eyes twinkling with happiness. Suddenly he’s aware that he is wearing little next to no clothes, so proceeds to pull the jumper over his head. He fits in it easily and, after pulling it over himself, discovers that it is only a couple of inches shy from touching his knees. The sleeves swamp his arms, so he proceeds to roll them back several times, smiling as he does so, imagining that Clear carried on his knitting not knowing when to stop.

“It’s warm. Thank you,” he says again, pulling Clear to him and wrapping his arms around the android. “I’ll find you something soon. Promise.”

He lifts Clear’s chin and gently kisses his two moles before their lips connect, fingers running through Clear’s hair as he caresses Noiz’s neck. Noiz keeps Clear close to him, caressing Clear’s back gently and rubbing his thumb in slow, gentle circles, trying to transfer unsaid feelings into the kiss. He thinks Clear understands, for when they pull away, pink eyes search the green and a hand comes up to cup his face.

“I love you, Noiz-san.”

The blond squeezes his lover’s waist gently, smiling softly down at him and, for the first time, realising how lucky he is.

“Yeah, I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Lebkuchen is a German biscuit eaten around Christmas time; also, it's a German tradition that they open presents on Christmas Eve and mostly spend time with family on the Day itself.   
> It's my headcanon that all the guys are given sweaters made by Clear for Christmas, and they're all bit on the big side too~  
> Hope you enjoyed, and I didn't really want Noiz to be too OOC at the end! u3u


End file.
